Last Week at the Institute — 9–15 Dec. 2017

Last week was a quiet one at the institute with lots of behind-the-scenes work, which is neither photogenic nor gripping reading.

Nonprofit Management

S. Johnson working near the woodstove.

Winter is when we write grants and do office work. We’re doing outreach to increase our fundraising and underwriting. This also means that blog posts and podcasting should become more regular while we’re stuck inside. We also have a backlog of video clips to knit together into new content.

Of course we also have tax forms and other end-of-year items to take care of. If you’re a member or have donated to the institute, expect to get your 1099-MISC in January.

Roofing Continues

The roof work continues and this coming week will be the last one, which is incredibly exciting, since we started this job in June. I’ll have pictures and updates with panoramic pictures coming soon.

Otherwise

Potatoes stored in the storm-door alcove of our basement.

We continue our partial self-sufficiency study, where we are eating primarily food that we grew ourselves this year. So far, we are doing well with both potatoes and squash. The end of our dried fruit is in sight.

We have plans to build a cool storage room in the basement in future years, but until then, we’re taking advantage of “liminal space,” that is, a location between inside and out. In this case, an exterior basement stairs under a storm door has become our root cellar. We’ve stored potatoes, which prefer 35–38°F, and kohl rabi on the stairs. The proximity to the house foundation keeps the area from freezing and the door to the outside does keep it cooler than our basement.